NSF Announces Transdisciplinary Track in HEGS Program

The Human-Environment and Geographical Sciences (HEGS) program at the U.S. National Science Foundation has published a new solicitation (NSF 25-507). Proposals submitted after October 1, 2024 should follow the new solicitation.

HEGS supports basic scientific research about the nature, causes, consequences or evolution of evolution of the spatial dimensions of human behaviors, activities, and dynamics as well as their interactions with environmental and social processes across a range of scales. The new program solicitation welcomes proposals that address these issues with empirically grounded, theoretically engaged, methodologically rigorous, and generalizable research that advances geographical and geospatial sciences.

Competitive HEGS proposals should advance fundamental geographic theory and geospatial methods with rationale to support the falsifiability of hypotheses, clear and rigorous sampling and analytical methodology, establishing validity, and generalizability to broader contexts. Regular HEGS awards range from $100,000 to $500,000, inclusive of indirect costs. Budgets must be commensurate with proposed activities and must directly support the objectives of the research. Budgets above $500,000 may sometimes be possible for proposals that are co-reviewed with other NSF programs. Prospective PIs are encouraged to contact non-HEGS program directors to discuss co-review possibilities and programmatic fit. Budget requests are reviewed carefully at all stages of the evaluation process, and proposals with budgets that are justified and appropriate to the scope of the project are prioritized. Submitters of proposals are encouraged to consult the NSF awards database for perspective on the range of budget requests that characterize the program.

A new track for proposals, Transdisciplinary REsearch in Environmental Social Science (TREES), provides funding to support research that integrates social science and environmental science to advance social sciences in understanding the complex interactions between people and the environment. TREES proposals submitted to HEGS should fuse multi-disciplinary perspectives, theories, and methods to advance the science of socioenvironmental systems and basic human-environmental and geographical sciences.TREES awards are expected to be 3–4 years in the range of $200,000–$250,000 per year.

If PIs are uncertain of the fit of a prospective project for the HEGS program (or other NSF programs), they may send a concept outline of 1 to 2 pages describing 1) the research questions and objectives, 2) theoretical foundations, 3) data collection plans, including sampling considerations, 4) analytical plans, and 5) the anticipated budget request to HEGS Program Directors (HEGS-info@nsf.gov).

HEGS depends on the willingness of qualified reviewers to provide helpful advice to NSF program directors on the merits of the proposals and constructive comments for PIs to improve their projects. Reviewers also benefit from gaining first-hand knowledge of the peer review process, learning about common problems with proposals, discovering strategies to write strong proposals, and, if serving on a panel, having dynamic and insightful discussions with other reviewers. Anyone interested in reviewing HEGS proposals please email HEGS Program Directors (HEGS-info@nsf.gov) with a short bio and a CV.